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- Posted: 13 years ago
- Modified: 13 years ago
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Post #1
While thinking about where to put the Capitals in my Oregon Cities Map I first thought about the World Map. It turns out that the capital positions have never been fined tuned since they were first set up. When looking at the list, I found a few problems that I think should be fixed.
The first problem is that East Africa is used, but it is a border. From East Africa you can take over all of Africa and still be able to launch attacks to other capitals from your capital. This is a huge advantage that no other capital has. With every other capital you end up blocking your capital in by taking the region.
The other problem is with spacing. This is most obvious in the 4 player game. The Europe and Asia capitals are close to all the other capitals making it easy for them to launch an attack from their capital to whichever capital is the weakest. The North America capital and Africa capital however are much farther away from each other.
Glanru and I went through the following capitals placement list and made some suggested changes. We thought long and hard about it and argued over it quite a bit. We also made tables and did some statistics to come up with what we think would be a much better setup.
On the left side is the current list. On the right is the proposed change. Each section of the list is followed by a reason for the change.
2 player game - No change
Kazakhstan
Western US
3 player - No change
Ontario
Northern Europe
Mongolia
4 player
Quebec >> Western United States
Scandinavia = Scandinavia
East Africa >> Congo
China >> Mongolia
Reason: Decreases the distance from the North America capital and the Africa capital for balance
5 player
Ontario >> Alberta
Peru = Peru
East Africa >> South Africa
Scandinavia >> Britain
Mongolia >> China
Reason: Some capitals were too close, some too far. Changed so that each player has 3 enemies that are 4 territories away.
6 player
China >> Irkutsk
Western Australia >> India
East Africa >> South Africa
Peru = Peru
Northern Europe >> Britain
Alberta = Alberta
Reason: no need to put a capital in Australia yet when there is another way to do it and be balanced. This way the average distance to the closest 3 capitals for most capitals is 3.66 territories away.
7 player
Irkutsk = Irkutsk
India = India
Western Australia >> Eastern Australia
Congo >> South Africa
Peru = Peru
Scandinavia >> Britain
Ontario >> Alberta
Reason: Used the balanced 6 player set up but added Eastern Australia. Used Eastern Australia instead of Western Australia so that it wasn't so close to India which already had the shortest average distance from all the other capitals.
8 player
Peru >> Argentina
Congo = Congo
Western Australia = Western Australia
India = India
Irkutsk = Irkutsk
Greenland >> Northwest Territory
Western US >> Central America
Scandinavia >> Britain
Reason: This way every capital is at least 3 territories away from the nearest capital. In the current version, Greenland and Western United States are only two territories away from each other. Unfortunately the only way to do this was to have a capital on a border (Central America).
It would be great if everyone would check our work and make some suggestions of their own. It may not be perfect, that's not really possible, but is it better?
The first problem is that East Africa is used, but it is a border. From East Africa you can take over all of Africa and still be able to launch attacks to other capitals from your capital. This is a huge advantage that no other capital has. With every other capital you end up blocking your capital in by taking the region.
The other problem is with spacing. This is most obvious in the 4 player game. The Europe and Asia capitals are close to all the other capitals making it easy for them to launch an attack from their capital to whichever capital is the weakest. The North America capital and Africa capital however are much farther away from each other.
Glanru and I went through the following capitals placement list and made some suggested changes. We thought long and hard about it and argued over it quite a bit. We also made tables and did some statistics to come up with what we think would be a much better setup.
On the left side is the current list. On the right is the proposed change. Each section of the list is followed by a reason for the change.
2 player game - No change
Kazakhstan
Western US
3 player - No change
Ontario
Northern Europe
Mongolia
4 player
Quebec >> Western United States
Scandinavia = Scandinavia
East Africa >> Congo
China >> Mongolia
Reason: Decreases the distance from the North America capital and the Africa capital for balance
5 player
Ontario >> Alberta
Peru = Peru
East Africa >> South Africa
Scandinavia >> Britain
Mongolia >> China
Reason: Some capitals were too close, some too far. Changed so that each player has 3 enemies that are 4 territories away.
6 player
China >> Irkutsk
Western Australia >> India
East Africa >> South Africa
Peru = Peru
Northern Europe >> Britain
Alberta = Alberta
Reason: no need to put a capital in Australia yet when there is another way to do it and be balanced. This way the average distance to the closest 3 capitals for most capitals is 3.66 territories away.
7 player
Irkutsk = Irkutsk
India = India
Western Australia >> Eastern Australia
Congo >> South Africa
Peru = Peru
Scandinavia >> Britain
Ontario >> Alberta
Reason: Used the balanced 6 player set up but added Eastern Australia. Used Eastern Australia instead of Western Australia so that it wasn't so close to India which already had the shortest average distance from all the other capitals.
8 player
Peru >> Argentina
Congo = Congo
Western Australia = Western Australia
India = India
Irkutsk = Irkutsk
Greenland >> Northwest Territory
Western US >> Central America
Scandinavia >> Britain
Reason: This way every capital is at least 3 territories away from the nearest capital. In the current version, Greenland and Western United States are only two territories away from each other. Unfortunately the only way to do this was to have a capital on a border (Central America).
It would be great if everyone would check our work and make some suggestions of their own. It may not be perfect, that's not really possible, but is it better?